Despite the Putin regime’s massive police presence – Russia now has more police per capita than any other country in the world – youth gangs are killing, raping and attacking representatives of the authorities across the country, unfazed by any threat of arrest or imprisonment.

Many of those involved identify themselves or are identified in the media as “AUE,” an abbreviation for the Russian expression, “the arrested way of life is united” or simply “jailbirds.” They appeared first in orphanages and then in children’s prisons but are spreading to the streets.

Teenage gang members (Image: gorodkirov.ru)

These groups, observers say, are formed by young criminals who are attracted by their romantic view of crime and who see themselves as musketeers or Robin Hoods who are standing up to the authorities in the name of group solidarity. In the past, Russian young people were interested in goths and emos; now, one commentator says, “their idols have become prison personalities.”

The term AUE arose seven years ago and has been found in at least 18 regions of the Russian Federation, most far from Moscow, according to an investigation conducted by Novaya gazeta. In many cases, the authorities seem powerless against groups totally unafraid of arrest or fighting with the police.

Both ordinary Russians in these regions and some human rights activists and politicians are horrified by the failure of the authorities to take action. They are calling for the suppression of Internet videos that the groups use to promote themselves and recruit new members and also for tough actions against these gangs.

In June, a Duma committee held a hearing about AUE. Interior ministry (MVD) officials sought to minimize the problem, but representatives of the magistracy argued that the MVD doesn’t appear to understand what is going on.

Igor Kommissarov, the vice president of the Russian magistracy, suggested that the interior ministry people were living in “a parallel world,” one that doesn’t reflect realities on the ground. “I don’t know where you work, but you absolutely can’t imagine the situation which is developing” in this regard.

Teenage criminals attending a court session (Image: volga.news)

Russian criminologists are divided as to why the AUE groups have emerged. Some see them as a continuation of the criminal subculture of the 1950s and 1960s, while others suggest there is “a 20-year cycle” of criminal activity, and Russia is simply living through a high point of that curve just now.

But increasingly, Russian officials are falling back on their usual argument to explain negative developments in their country. They point out that “youth crime is widespread in many countries” and that “analogues to AUE now exist in Latin America and the US,” as well as in EU member states.

Related

Just another venue of ‘Russian’ culture?
Orphanages and children’s prisons, “jailbirds” of the Great Russian Empire?
At least in most other societies they work on educating children for a better future.

veth

Russia has no future, why should they care?

zorbatheturk

Neo Na zi scum. White trash. Typical Putinoids.

Ihor Dawydiak

All of this and yet both the Kremlin and the ROC continuously claim that their society is virtuous and that the West is decadent. What a bunch of rubbish.

Scradje

These are the same type of scum that are being sent to Donbas to murder Ukrainians.

Mephisto

cannon fodder

Mephisto

fish rots from the head down and if the president himself is a boss of a crime syndicate….

Dagwood Bumstead

The authorities don’t really care about these gangs because they have far more “important” things to do: crack down on any criticism of the “Great and Glorious” dwarf, his crooked cronies and his self-destructing policies.
The gangs are merely another indication of an approaching Time of Troubles for Dwarfstan. Kyiv should step up the work on making the border with Dwarfstan secure. Something like the old Zonengrenze between the DDR and BRD with watchtowers at regular intervals and masses of barbed wire etc etc will be imperative to keep the scum out.

Just another sign that russia is dying. The birth rate is
falling, the mortality rate is rising, drug and alcohol use is on the rise, the
youth see no future in Russia, putin has destroyed that. Well done dictator putin,
you have destroyed your own country, there is no need for any foreign country
to conquer Russia as Russia is already brain dead. If russia was such a great
country, then why do putin’s children and lavrov’s children live in the west,
why don’t they stay in russia and live there?

About the Source

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. He has served as director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn, and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. Earlier he has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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